Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-06-01
KATE CHAsE.SPRAGUE.
The Beautiful MatrOn's ATectiOnafe
Meeting with Her IniudieiOus
brooklyn EagIe.l

brooklyn Eagle.
The other DAY welldresSed, handsome
woman, with the mmistakable air OF a
qrdpde dame about her, appeared in the
back room OF a New York office, and after a
few moments a boy came in from the me-
Cbanical department WITH which the off &c Is
connected. He was a good-lOoking, stalwart
youth, bur gT,med with his work, bis hands
black and hard, his redhannel Shirt-sleeyes
rolled up to the elbow. ard leather apron
tied about his waist. They, the woman and
the boy, were evidently glad to see one az
other; she called him Willie" aud.
throwing Der arms about his neck, kissed
him half a dozen times, after which she sat
Ter half an hour holding bis hand and talk.
ing TO him in a low tone. II w3s time for
him to 90 back to his work then, and D
they kissed again and separated. TIE
clerks m the front office were much inter-
ested i'm the little scene ard ore OF them re-
marked: 81 don't doubt II we knew the
real story OF these two 1t would be rO-
nance more strange than any in novel;"
I hey were the grandson and the daughter
OF Chief Justice salmon l.. Chase. Kate
Chase was probably during the civil war
the most influential woman in this cOun-
Try. Mrs. Lincoln being such an inn
possible sort OF person, all the social side
OF politics centered at the house OF her
father. one must have lived in Washing
ton 10 realize what profound influence
society exercises upon politics, and ii Is
said there that tue handsome, brilliant,
ambitious girl who ruled the Chase SdtOn
had more to 10 with the making and un-
making OF generals on the Potomac than
people now dean. Later on, tOU. under
the Grant Administration, when she was
he wife OF the millionaire Governor and
the friend OF the Senator from New York,
she welded more power than any woman
in the country. Now she lives IN Wash
ingtOn in, what is to her, nOyer-
ty, without influence or place in the
social world she once ruled. and
surrounded only with a shadow OF
all her past splendor. She deVotes her
time TO raising roses and experimenting
her daughter Ethe's education, who in
herits none Of her beauty, but much OF her
intellect. A great cause OF distress TO her
has been her son Willie. When she was
divorced from her husband the courts
awarded The boy to bis father, and, at that
tine lad OF only ten or twelve, he took
sides against her. lie was allowed 10 run
Wild about Narragansett-was solitary,
grave boy until his father persuaded
him into marriage with his second
wife's sister. II was not long al
ter that that the boy awoke to
sense 81 what he had done, aud
be instantly fed, appealing at the same time
to his mother. WAC was abroad. She for
gave al once the position he had taken as a
child, ard returned from Europe to see
what she could do for him. She was too
straitened in means TO support him, and he
worked for awhile as fireman for an engine.
Latterly friends have secured him pace
where bis natural turn for mechanics is OF
use TO him, and he Is doing well, though the
comrades VINO work alongside OF him have
no suspicion Of his identity. His mother
comes oSer from Washington TO see him
occasionally, aud It is under her advice he
is now suing for divorce from the woman
be was entrapped into wedding.